Brake-head.



' No. 686,344. Patented Nov. I2, :90.

w. D.SARGENT.

BRAKE HEAD.

(Abplietion filedmay 19, 1899.)

(No Model.)

mm m

Nrren STATES PATENT OFFICE.

'WILLIAM DURHAM SARGENT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BRAKE-HEAD.

$.PECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 686,344, datedNovember 12, 1901.

Application filed May 19,1899. Serial No. 717,495. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM DURHAM SAR- GENT, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements inBrake-Heads, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in brake-heads for attachingbrakeshoes to brake-beams in railway-car brakes, and has for its primaryobject the production of a lighter, stronger, and more durable brakeheadwithout additional cost.

It also has for its object such a construction of the head anddisposition of the metal as that a very light, strong, and shapelybrakehead may be produced in cast-steel at the same or less cost thanthe malleable or cast iron heads are now produced. The decrease inweight not only does not sacrifice the strength of the brake head, but,on the contrary, greatly increases the strength thereof.

These and such other objects as may hereinafter appear are attained bythe devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1represents a sectional elevation of a brake-head embodying my invention.Fig.

cated between the upper and lower ends of the body portion, and isprovided at its center with a semicircular projection B, which is boredaxially, as more clearly shown in Fig. 4, to receive the end of thebrake-beam.

As appears in Figs. 1 and 4, the brake-head is hollow, havingsubstantially the same thick ness of metal throughout. The sides D ofthe body act as guides or bearings for the usual brake-key for attachingthe brake-shoe to the head, the brake-shoe generally having a perforatedlug E, through which the brake-key also passes. It will be noted thatthe ends of the body A are bifurcated or forked, as at C, to reduce theweight and to afford a means for driving the brake-key into and out ofposition. It will also be noted in the particular form of brake headshown in the drawings that one end of the semicylindric projection Bispartly closed by a perforated diaphragm to afford a support for the nutsupon the end of a tie-rod passing through the brakebeam and the openingin the diaphragm, the brake-head shown in the drawings beingparticularly designed to fit upon a tubular brakebeam or one havingcylindric ends. It will also be noted that the sides of the bodyA areformed on ogee curves, being contracted at their center of length, so asto render the brake-head as light as possible.

By casting this brake-head in steel all of the solid and heavy metallicparts absolutely necessary in malleable or cast iron brakeheads aredispensed with without the sacrifice of any strength, while the savingin the quantity of material renders the cost of the cast-steel headpractically the same or less than a cast or malleable iron head.

While I have shown the extension 13 at the center of the arch assemicylindric both interiorly and exteriorly, obviously the exactshapeof this extension either interiorly or exteriorly is utterlyimmaterial, as it will of course be shaped to correspond to the shape ofthe particular brake-beam to which it is to be applied, some of thesebrake-beams being cylindric, while others are square, rectangular,polygonal, and various other shapes, so that all such changes as thisare within the contemplation of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. A brake-head comprising a body portion arched between its upper andlower ends both longitudinally and transversely, substantially as shownand described.

2. A brake-head comprising a body portion arched both longitudinally andtransversely and'provided with bifurcated ends at the top and bottom,substantially as described.

WILLIAM DURHAM SARGENT.

Witnesses CA L. J. N. RAYMOND.

